Why you hit plateaus

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A few days ago I got an email from a propective client.

 

Here’s the message I received:

“Hi Kristen,

I just read your story online and am interested in talking to you about joining your boot camp. I have literally been working my ass off the last year trying to get in shape and have seen some results, but not enough to keep me motivated to keep at it. I feel like I spend hours at the gym and have found it nearly impossible to drop the weight and get the muscle tone that I want too. And now, I feel like I am hitting a plateau. What should I do?”

 

I remember being at a point when I also felt this way and was almost ready to give up until I met my trainer. She made me realize that there is more to it than just putting on gym clothes one day and deciding you are going to start working out.

 

Now, whenever I hear from a new client who expresses frustration with working out for hours a day and not seeing results, the first thing I have to know from them is what does it mean to them personally to see results? What does your vision of your perfect body and health looks like?

 

Because if you don’t know what it means to you personally to get results, you will never know if you have gotten there… And that is a pretty frustrating existence!  You will never feel like you are getting anywhere if you don’t know where you want to go.

 

So the first 3 things you have to ask yourself are:

 

1) What are my fitness goals?

2) Why are these important to me?

3) What would the positive changes in my life be after I achieve these goals?

 

Because that’s what we’re REALLY talking about in “feeling good” and being happy about your fitness results.

My guess is you probably don’t have as much clarity in this realm as you would truly benefit from having.

 

So allow yourself to take time in giving this more thought. Try to do this without other distractions going on.

 

And know that it is okay if these change once you get going. Because they will. That is why it is good to re-visit your goals regularly to make sure you never feel like you are sinking into a plateau.

 

In my experience working with hundreds of new clients, people will be really amped up in the beginning, but tend to forget why they wanted to get fit in the first place if they do not re visit their goals on a regular basis. Sometimes they start with the goal of weight loss and then realize they like how good it feels to be strong. In that moment, re-writing your goals can be extremely beneficial. When you do this, you can keep yourself excited and focused while you are working out all of the time.

 

Now, that you know what you want, how do you really keep from hitting a plateau?

 

So now that you have taken a step back to figure out what it is that you really want from your health and fitness, it is time to set yourself up for success. In my opinion, no one has done this better than our 2011-12 Member of the Year Nominees. (head on over and vote for your favorite success story when you get a chance.)

 

They have not only given themselves a target to shoot for, but they have realized that fitness isn’t a month long endeavor.  Fitness is forever, should encompass all elements that make up a well – rounded program and takes ongoing work.

 

When people feel like they are hitting a plateau it is usually because of 1 of 5 reasons:

 

1) They did not re-visit or even develop goals in the first place

2) They got complacent during their workouts and just went through the motions without much effort instead of going to the gym with the mind set to give it their all

3) They forgot that working out is only a small piece of the puzzle. Lifestyle and nutrition account for nearly 80%.

4) They started only focusing on 1 aspect of their workouts  (stretching but not the cardio, cardio but not the strength, strength but not the mobility work, etc.)

5) They stopped pushing themselves because they got bored (which usually comes down to the fact that they do not remember why they wanted to workout in the first place).

 

Bottom line is that it all comes down to having a clear vision. Once you clear this up everything you do will be heading in the same direction as what you ultimately want…

 

I know that most people have trouble figuring this stuff out on their own so don’t be ashamed if you have never thought about your “fitness wish list”. To help you clear things up for yourself, we are inviting you to a HUGE and FREE event Tuesday March 6th at 7pm (at the Sports Basement in Potrero) called “Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever!”

All we ask is that you bring a small $10 donation that will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco. Make sure to go here to read all about it and sign up here.

We will have 2 motivational speakers that will be revealing ground breaking ways to make yourself healthier, stay fit for life, and re-develop your mind set to be successful long term… Space is limited so make sure you get on our VIP list today!

 

 

 

 

 


Why You are Still In Pain

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Let’s face it, it is no fun to be in pain. Working out or doing any sort of exercise while you are in pain will only make your body feel worse, not better. And frankly, it’s not productive for you.

I understand because I spent 7 years dealing with my own terrible neck and upper back pain and working out was not making me feel better. I loved dancing, it was something I did all the time, but even that was making me feel much worse.

After 7 years of trying massage, physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, ART, the pain never went away and I honestly felt like nothing would ever help me until I discovered what pain actually is, where it lives, and why I was in pain. If you currently suffer from any type of pain that either won’t go away, or keeps coming back, read on.

What is Pain and Where Does it Live?

Definition – “Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.”

The more research I do on the subject, the more I understand that pain is an action signal which lives in the BRAIN and tells you that something is wrong. The confusing part is that it could be signaling anything that is wrong in the body! It also doesn’t necessarily mean that you have something wrong where you feel the pain.

The cool part is that it means that you may not be broken or injured, you may just need to discover exercise drills that will make your pain go away.

Let me elaborate:

Your brain has actual movement maps for Everything that you do. From walking, to running, to sitting, etc. And if you think about a baby, they do not have maps developed yet. Over the years as we grow up, start working in an office and stop moving as much, our movement maps become blurred. It’s almost like spilling coffee on the map you are using to get somewhere. Because our maps get blurry, we have less coordination and start compensating and using poor movement patterns frequently. So, most pain begins due to of lack of movement or repetitive and damaging movement patterns.

Here is an equation for you:

Better Movement = Better Movement Maps

Better Movement Maps = Less Pain:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Was I in Pain?

I was in pain for 6 years because I, like most people had some glitches in my movement map. After I went to my first Z Health seminar, and learned some movement drills to clear up my map, my pain went away.

Now, I still have to keep the drills up but they don’t take long for me to do and they make me feel 100 times better! It is empowering to know I can take care of my own pain.

What Are the Things You can Do?

First, come check out my “Starting out Right Pain and Injury Free” seminar today in San Jose and Tuesday in San Francisco at My Gym (901 Minnesota Street at 7:15pm).

Second, if you have any sort of persisting pain, send us an email and we will see if we can help you out! iluvmybodyfitness@gmail.com

Last, check out the video below. Really interesting story about how my friend Ken (a Z Health Master Trainer) got out, in and back out again of shoulder pain.

Enjoy!

Our Your Best Body Challenge 2012 Launch Day

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I am trying to get some down time in after an amazing “Your Best Body Challenge” launch this past Saturday. Over 65 people came to support the event and between the San Francisco and San Jose Challenge launches, we raised $3500 for the Boys & Girls Club. It feels really good to pay it forward after all the support I have received from people in my life to start my business. This challenge gets bigger and bigger every year and every year we change people’s lives and I am thrilled with the progress of challengers that stick through the 8 weeks. If you are one of our challengers or even if you are motivated to kick start your new plan this year, here are some tips to keep yourself committed:

  1. Write it Down – I won’t spend too much time on this because I know I have been talking about it for a while. But seriously, how do you know when you’ve been successful if you have no idea where you want to go in the first place? Writing down your goals (what you want to accomplish) and motivation for accomplishing them (the reason why) helps you reap the rewards of being successful! Every time you make some headway towards a goal, give yourself some positive reinforcement – a massage, a spa treatment, a nice necklace – whatever makes you happy! Just not a cookie:-)
  2. Surround Yourself With People who are Positive Influences on You – Being around a group of motivated folks is contagious (in a good way). When you surround yourself with others who are excited about where they are going in life and are also working towards accomplishing goals, it is easy to become influenced to keep going with your personal goals. Think about it, if your friends are constantly inviting you to the meet them at the gym or go out for a healthy meal, you would be way more likely to engage in this behavior. If your friends are only interested in sitting around, watching TV and drinking beers (which is absolutely cool from time to time but not all the time), you will be more likely to engage to do this yourself which won’t help you get the inches off.
  3. Exercise with well rounded (full body) workouts with cardio at least 3 times a week. My favorite exercises are ones that involve your entire body, keep your heart rate up, and keep you moving. Of course, you have to make sure that you know how to do each move separately before you put your full body exercises together. This is why we use techniques from Z Health in our warm up and sometimes throughout the workout. The techniques teach you how to isolate different body parts so that when you get to the bigger movements you are less likely to get injured and more likely to feel the appropriate muscles working in the exercise. You can come and learn more about this at our Community Lecture “Starting out Right Pain and Injury Free” January 31st at My Gym – 901 Minnesota St at 7:15pm.
  4. Speaking of injuries, be mindful of your exercise form all the time. I cannot emphasize this enough. I told our boot campers yesterday at orientation that I recently heard a staggering statistic that 70% of people are injured within their first 6 weeks of working out, usually from going beyond their limits. This is why big corporate gyms have to have a huge membership base coming in all the time. They know that 70% of their clients will stop working out within 6 weeks time! My best suggestion to avoid getting injured is to have a professional coach watching over you. Trust me when I say that I actually did not feel this way until about 7 years ago when I hired a professional coach to fight my own personal weight loss battle. I had been dancing my entire life (for 15 years) and thought that I knew everything about working out. Turns out I was dead wrong. And the more you practice bad form, the more you become really good at exercising with poor form. This is usually what leads to injury…
  5. Remember that Nutrition is 80% of the Battle. Really??? Yes! Trust me, I wish all it took was a good, tough workout to get you lean. I would probably be a millionaire by this point. But, it is not true. And whoever told you that all you had to do to lose weight was to workout everyday was lying to you.  My great friend Nutrition Educator Audra Baker will be talking all about Nutrition for health and weight loss Tuesday January 17th at My Gym (901 Minnesota St) at 7:15pm. I highly suggest coming to her lecture to learn how to overcome weight loss resistance and learn how to Eat Clean to Get Lean. Now, on the other had, I can’t deny that working out definetly helps to lose fat weight instead of muscle weight. If you’ve ever heard the term “skinny fat,” you know what I mean. People who don’t workout will lose their lean muscle mass along with the fat. And that does not create the nice toned look we all like to have.

Alright, best of luck to everyone! We can’t wait to see what happens in the next 8 weeks! And if you haven’t checked out our YBB Photos from our Launch Event, go to our Facebook Page to see them today!

Our Company Mission and Core Values

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I have read countless blog posts on year end revelations. And I have personally spent a lot of time reflecting on our 2011 boot camp and personal training programs and accomplishments in addition to time planning on how to build even more community within the program in 2012.

In 2011 We Added a Ton of Inclusions to Our Programs for our existing Members:

  • Added  8 more boot camp classes a week. We had 7 classes per week and are now up to 60 Unlimited access classes a month!
  • Added a Members only website with done-for-you tools. Our members site has over 25 free downloads for nutrition, workouts, recipes, grocery lists, flexibility, cardio, travel workouts, etc and 10 videos so far to aid in supporting your progress.
  • Sought out quality Services from the San Francisco community and built relationships with them. Now they are willing to give our members discounts on their services: we have a chiropractor (Custom Chiropractic), acupuncturist (Wood Tiger Acupuncture), photographer (Stuart Locklear Photography), hair stylist (Dekko Salon), and a life coach (Coach Kenji) who all offer discounts to I Luv My Body Fitness members..
  • Added 2 new and highly qualified instructors who are the best I have ever worked with: Missy and John and trained them on our protocols
  • Integrated Z Health knowledge I’ve gained to our fitness programs through spending tens of thousands of $$ on top notch education that only 8 other trainers in all of SF are now qualified to use.
  • Started client care phone calls and optional monthly accountability calls to help our members remain more motivated.

It was a good year!

My business coaches are always helping me to make improvements in our customer experience and have been encouraging me to reveal a solid Mission Statement and Business Core Values to our clients. I finally took their advice in December and put together a list of all our Core Values.

Since it is the beginning of a new year, I wanted to start this year off right and share all of them with you today. All of our core values are based upon our Mission Statement and Company Vision. Each person that works for my company will live and breath these, I know Missy and John already do:

Our Company Mission Statement
I Luv My Body Fitness’ Mission is to create a community of enthusiastic clients and coaches who are focused on life long fitness, health and nutrition. We will empower our clients with the accountability and motivation they need to achieve any health and fitness goal and have fun in the process!

Our Company Core Values
Each staff member is responsible for taking on these core values and living by them to make ours and our customer’s experience memorable and amazing. We want to exude these qualities in everything we do:

1. Over-deliver in every aspect of our program to each of our clients AND each other.

  • Help every client learn and succeed.
  • Go above and beyond in everything we do.

2. Offer Professional and Well Rounded Services

  • Our classes and training runs on time.
  • Programs make people look and feel better.
  • We Combine all aspects of a well rounded fitness plan into our client’s experience.

3. Integrity – Practice what we preach

  • Services are based upon our past experiences with what works for our clients.
  • We never offer anything we don’t believe 100% in.

4. Constant Learning and Self Development

  • Develop and expand our knowledge base through earning certifications from credible organizations, training with top people in the industry, and reading.
  • We share our ideas with each other and work on being better every day.

5. Build Community, Welcoming and Fun Atmosphere

  • Help clients to have fun during class while working hard.
  • Hold community events and challenges to get to know each other.
  • Laugh a lot!

6. Constant Improvement in Our Services

  • Be flexible and change to make our program better.

7. Life Long Health and Fitness

  • Our goal is to keep each and every client for life.
  • Programing safe and effective workouts is top of mind for every session.
  • Members leave every class better than when they came!
  • Help everyone experience constant improving, learning and development.

8. Communication

  • We voice all questions and concerns to each other and ask our clients to do the same.
  • Recognizing concerns early on can fix everything.

9. Quality

  • Our products and services are top notch and our prices reflect that.
  • We put a lot of thought and hard work into everything we do.

What you can expect from our program in 2012:

We have already set the stage to make this a huge year for I Luv My Body Fitness and our clients. If you are an Active Client of ours, you have all received Holiday cards stating the name of your team leader who will be responsible for helping you remain on track outside of the classroom. So if you need additional support, let them know immediately. They will be calling you each month to see how your program is going.

Our YBB Challenge starts this Saturday and here are all the things our Active Members who make their donation and everyone signed up for our “Committed to Win Option” will be getting to be successful in this challenge:

  1. Opportunity to Sign up for Top Notch Body Fat Testing (I am running the tests this week on Tues and Thurs night, sign up here today and beat the rush to reserve your time slot! 2 tests (before and after) is only $40!
  2. 4 Weekly Meal Plans with corresponding grocery lists
  3. Access to our New Online Meal Journaling program AND Weekly calls to review your status with your team leader
  4. Weekly Weigh Ins (Mondays Before or after class) And recordings to show your progress
  5. 2 Group Hikes with our team
  6. 3 Community Lectures
  7. Huge Awards Ceremony at the end
  8. First place winner has a Chance to win prize package valued at $2800!

We can’t wait to see you all Saturday!

All the best and Happy 2012!

xo,

Kristen

9 Steps to Stay Motivated

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Happy 2 year Anniversary to Us! It was actually 2 years today that I held my very first boot camp class under my Company, I Luv My Body Fitness. And we have come a long way since then:

  • From 7 to 52 clients and growing
  • From me doing everything to 2 amazing instructors and an incredible administrative assistant
  • From holding 5 classes a week to 16 classes a week

And the list goes on…

I’m not going to lie and say that it has been an easy journey, but it has definitely been rewarding.

Looking back on the past 2 years of our growth and thinking about how I overcame the hard times I have been through as a new business owner sparked today’s blog post regarding motivation.

Most people think of motivation as a feeling you get when you want to do something. That’s what I used to think too.  I thought if I did not want to do something (like workout one day), I lacked motivation.  But I have recently changed my opinion about this because I learned that being motivated in any area of life is a skill, and not a feeling. To me this is very refreshing because skills can be self taught and refined until they are close to being effortless. Let’s use the example of working out. You do not necessarily have to feel a burning desire to workout to be motivated. The act of getting to your workouts is a skill and you do not lack motivation if you take action, even if you are not in the right mindset some days.

But To help you get in the right mindset and stay there as much as possible, here are 9 Steps That my Most Successful Clients have implemented. You can use these in any area of life, but for our purposes we will talk about working out:

Step 1) First and foremost, you have to know what you want to achieve and write it down. Most health and fitness programs fail because people skip this crucial step. If you have no idea how much weight you want to lose for example, you will eventually become demotivated because you have no target to aim for. Goals should be measurable so you can see if you are moving towards them. Then, if you are not you can alter your program accordingly.

 

Step 2) The second step is knowing why you want to achieve your goals and write that down as well. When you know the emotional component behind why you want to achieve your goal, you are more likely to remain dedicated to your fitness program for the long term and succeed. For instance if you know you would like to lose weight because you want to have more confidence, energy and vitality to live your life, you will be more likely to get to the gym on a regular basis.

 

Step 3) Reflect upon your goals and reasons for achieving them daily. Read them out loud. Many people make the mistake of writing out their goals initially, putting them in a drawer and then forgetting all about them. Visualizing what your life would be like if you had already accomplished your goals is extremely powerful because your brain cannot tell the difference between a real and imagined experience. The more you picture your ideal body, the more clear your path will be to get there.

 

Step 4) Hook up with a professional coach to hold you accountable and help to keep you engaged in your plan. All successful individuals have a coach. Whether it’s to help keep you on track mentally or correct your exercise form so you do not get injured early on in your program. Investing in a coach is invaluable.

 

Step 5) Plan for anything and everything that could hold you back. Visualize what you will do if you can’t make it to the gym, how you will refuse candy to the office, what to eat when you go out to a restaurant, who you can speak with to keep you on track, etc. Basically think about every time you have failed to achieve your fitness goals in the past and ask yourself why you did not stay on track. Then, plan to overcome the situations that previously held you back.

 

Step 6) Make sure your plan encompasses the 6 components required for your success – Resistance training, cardio, nutrition, supplementation, injury prevention, and a coach. Without these 6 components, it is tough to see consistent results to keep you motivated.

 

Step 7) Use your social network. Give yourself a little social pressure through engaging your friends and family in the process. This can make a huge difference your ability to stay motivated. By telling your friends and family what you are doing, you are automatically surrounding yourself with people that can help hold you accountable, especially when your fitness coach is not around.

 

Step 8) If you fall off the wagon, jump back on! Do this as quickly as possible and don’t beat yourself up about it. Most people think that if they skip a work out they have blown their entire fitness plan. This is not true and the sooner you can get yourself back on track, the easier it will be. And remember, it is impossible to be perfect all of the time.

 

Step 9) Take it slow. I don’t care what late night TV peddlers say. The more pressure you put on yourself to lose weight or get toned fast, the easier it will be for you to injure yourself in the process or become dissatisfied with small results you receive. If you build healthy habits into your life slowly they will be easier for you to maintain.

Never The Perfect Time

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In the time that I spent with my friends a week ago, we had a couple conversations regarding working out and getting back into a routine. The conversation I had with them has actually been coming up A LOT in the past month for me with various potential clients. So, I want to address this issue because I feel that people have the complete wrong idea about when to get started in a fitness program…

If you are someone who is waiting for the perfect time to start a fitness plan, I have news for you..

Here is the honest truth:

There will Never be a perfect time for you to start your workout routine. Full stop.

I don’t mean this to sound de-motivating, so let me explain.

Even when you think you are starting your exercise routine at the most perfect time and Nothing can get in your way, something always happens.

It is inevitable.

Here is a common scenario:
You signed up for a 3 month fitness program thinking that this time you will have no scheduling conflicts. You have bought new workout clothes, marked the classes you will attend 5 days a week on your calendar and even have your meals planned out through the next month. You are ready to lose the 20 lbs you put on this past year and know that because you have no trips planned, etc for the next 3 months, nothing can get in your way.

So you start your plan on a Monday and for the first 2 weeks, everything is going perfectly, just as planned. You are attending all of the classes you said you would, are starting to have more energy, are getting over the muscle soreness, you even dropped a couple lbs and are starting to feel like yourself again.

And then it happens: Your boss makes you stay late at work because a project does not get completed so you have to miss your Monday Workout. You are bummed because you don’t want to lose momentum but the work has to get done so you cut your losses.

Tuesday rolls around and you are not feeling so hot (probably because you stayed late at work the night before). You are now feeling sick and low on energy so you decide that maybe you should come home early and sleep which means you are missing 2 workouts this week.

Now it is Wednesday and you are feeling better but your boss throws an unexpected business trip on your calendar for the the following week and you have to be there. You are disappointed in yourself for missing Monday and Tuesday, especially now that you know you will be gone the next week. So now you are thinking “well, I already missed Monday and Tuesday and will have to miss next week. So this week and next week are shot. I guess I will get back into it the week after my work trip.” … And on and on..

I’m going to stop this story here so I can ask you a question:

Don’t you think it is better to work out once a week than no times at all?

Of course it is! Any of you would tell your friends and family the same. So why don’t we say this to ourselves?
In a perfect world, life would not get in the way of our plans to better ourselves but since it does the best thing you can do is mentally prepare for the situations and weeks where you can’t get to the gym 4 to 5 days a week by letting yourself know that it is okay. If 1 time is better than nothing, then be okay with working out 1 time!

Here are a few tips on how to give yourself a Break when starting a fitness program:

1 – Plan on being okay with getting to the gym at least 1 time a week. This way if something does come up you will not feel that all your efforts are lost. If you know you are doing everything in your power to get your workout in but you cannot make it, don’t stress yourself out about it. This will further inhibit your weight loss efforts
2 – Pre-Cook healthy food items so you can keep your diet on track if you get busy. This is a huge part of the weight loss battle.
3 – Have a short at home workout prepared ready to do in case you have to miss your class. Body weight exercises like squats, push ups, back extensions, planks can all be designed into a 10 minute circuit to help you get some type of workout in.
4 - Sleep. You will never have energy to get through your workouts safely if you are overtired, let alone get to the gym in the first place.

If you are someone who wants to get started on your 1 Time this Week, We will be having a Free Turkey Busting Workout behind AT&T park this Thursday (Thanksgiving) at 9am. All you have to do is bring a $1 minimum donation!! We hope to see you there and have a very happy Thanksgiving!

 

Why You’re Afraid

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I love networking with amazing fitness professionals and I also love being taught by the best of the best in the areas of marketing, finances, and sales. This was my experience over the past week in Orlando where I attended a great conference put on by my business coaching company.

In Orlando, one speaker in particular really caught my attention. His name was
Steve Wilkinghof. He is the author of an exceptional book that I read last August
called “Found Money.” This book has had a huge impact on my mindset and thinking about the type of business and clients I want to serve for the long hall.

In his presentation, Steve talked about the “4 Fears that Paralyze you in Business” – Fear of the past, external, internal and future. He made the claim that if you are going no where fast, you inevitably have fear in at least f 1 of these 4 areas because Everyone is Afraid of the unknown whether they realize it or not. This really got me thinking about people I talk to on a daily basis and their desire to get fit.

Every day I get calls from prospective clients who inquire about our fitness services. Some decide to join our boot camps and personal training sessions and some do not.  And I can always tell who is really ready just by learning more about them and how much they have thought through their own issues about starting  a new workout plan. Inevitably the ones who do not move forward have never addressed their fears head on and therefore remain paralyzed in their current bodies and unhappy for far too long.

So how can you stop this once and for all?

By identifying and making a plan to overcome the 4 Fears you have about starting a fitness plan.

I have listed them below along with action steps for you to take today.

So here’s what I want you to do:

1)  Read through the 4 fears and 4 solutions.
2)  Write your action steps in the comment section of our blog. I will personally respond to your comment to let you know if you are moving in the best direction to succeed or if you could change something to make your path more clear.
3) Take your plan and print it out. Put this in a place you can read and see it daily.

Here are the 4 fears and how you overcome them:

1- Fear of the Past – You have achieved your current  health and body that is yours because of actions you have taken in the past. (e.g. Maybe you are not as toned as you would like because you are working long hours and not getting your workouts in on a regular basis). The reason you may be afraid of the past is because you are not exactly sure what patterns you had maintained over the years to earn your current body. So, if you have no idea how you got there, you will have no idea how to either:
a. duplicate your past actions on a regular basis if you are happy with your body or
b. avoid certain unhealthy activities if you are not happy

Most people do not document physical fitness activities, what they ate, how much they slept, how stressed they were on a regular basis.

Solution and Action Step – If you don’t know what happened in the past you can’t document it in detail. But you can start from today! Keep a Health Journal to record what you are doing and how you are feeling on a regular basis. The best things to record are:
1) Food and beverages (write down how you felt before and after your meal)
2) Hours of sleep
3) Durration and type of exercise
4) Level of stress (scale of 1-10)

2- Fear of the Internal - If you don’t know what you want you are sure have some level of fear. If you have not written down your health and fitness goals with steps to achieve them, you have nothing to show for all the effort you put into your workouts. And if you have no goals written down and reflected upon daily, you most certainly have no clue why you are doing what you are doing and how to create a plan so you remain motivated. Without goals, you are just floating around in the wind never knowing if you are moving forward or making progress. And if you have no clue you are getting anywhere you will eventually become demotivated and find excuses as to why you can’t get fit.

Solution and Action Step – Write down these 3 things:
1) Your Goals – what you want to achieve.
2) Your Motivation – reasons you want to achieve certain goals
3) Steps you must take to achieve each goal
***Print this out and read it out loud everyday.

3-Fear of the Future - If you don’t know how to make specific changes to your body and health on your own then you are probably afraid of the future.

You can’t be the expert in every realm of your life. You have probably spent lots of money on education and countless hours in training to become an expert in your own field. You probably wouldn’t try to be an expert in the medical field if you had no background. So why should it be any different with your health and fitness which is your baseline for Everything in your life!

Solution and Action Step: Find a fitness coach you trust and join their program. Everyone needs a coach (I have one for my business and 3 for my fitness). Study after study shows how much more you can achieve at a much faster rate if you find someone to guide you. So it’s a no brainer!

Fear of the External – If you don’t know how to create a certain type of fitness result, you don’t know how to assess and re-assess your progress to make sure you are moving forward. So, if you don’t know how to manipulate your body to create the changes you want to see, you are constantly afraid you are not eating the right foods or working out properly to get the specific result you want.

Solution – Again, hire a coach. It doesn’t make sense to constantly spin your wheels and take the long way around. A coach will help you avoid injury and get what you want out of your program and remain motivated to the cause.

So in summary, to eliminate these 4 fears that could be holding you back you must:
- know what happened in the past

- know what your goals are

- know how to create a specific result

- know how to assess and re-assess your progress so you can keep moving forward

Now your mission is to start on this today by leaving a comment on our blog! I am looking forward to coaching you through this and will respond if you leave a comment….

My Secret Workout Strategy

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Every time I go to the gym and watch people work out, they seem like they are straining to work as hard as they can! Seriously! It doesn’t matter what they are doing, even if it’s a simple bicep curl, they look like they are going to fall over at any minute.

Well, I’m gonna let you in on a big tip…

There is no reason to look like you are dying during a workout! The more tense you look, the more you will remember workouts as being painful and stressful. And the more this happens, the less time you will actually want to work out until you eventually just stop. (the majority of our population starts and stops working out within a couple weeks due to injury). Do you see where I’m going with this? It is a downward spiral for you, your mindset, your body and your motivation. A person can only handle that kind of stress for so long until they just want to stop working out all together.

So here is my secret workout strategy for getting more reps in, burning more calories, and avoiding injury during your workouts:

STAY RELAXED!!!

“What????!!!” (you are asking)

I know, this concept probably goes against everything you have learned in the past about workouts. It certainly was an eye opener for me when I learned it.  I also know everything you may have read on Google certainly points to the “No pain No gain” concept. So, why am I advocating to stay relaxed in a workout if you are not in a  yoga class???

 

Because if you stay relaxed during your workouts and focus on the mechanics of the exercise at hand, you will be able to perform more reps without running out of steam. And if you are performing more reps, your body will be working harder without straining and you will be burning more calories, building more endurance, and working out efficiently.

 

Here’s 3 reasons why tensing up and putting yourself into pain is not effective:

1) Working into pain increases tension and decreases efficiency – When you are walking down the street, do you tense every muscle in your body? My guess is no. If you did, you probably wouldn’t get very far. The fact that you are relaxed allows you to walk further without wearing yourself out.

 

2) Tensing muscles during movement takes your mind away from the task at hand – Your brain cannot mult-task and can only focus on 1 thing at a time. And if you focus on all muscles you “should be” tensing, you are taking your thoughts away from the movement itself.

 

3) Tensing muscles does not increase movement efficiency -  Your muscles are slaves to everything else going on in your body.  If you are expending all your energy tightening muscle groups, you are taking energy away from the movement itself and therefore decreasing the number of reps you can perform.

 

I actually put this concept to the test while taking my kettle bell certification from KBI. I wanted to see if it was true. So I tried swinging a 55 lb kettle bell staying as relaxed as I could. Well, this bell is 1/2 my weight and I ended up swinging the bell for 1 min 15 sec.  At the end of this I just put the bell down because I wanted to, not because I was tired. Then, I tried tensing every muscle in my body and swinging the bell. Needless to say, I didn’t get very far. Maybe 30 seconds or so. I was exhausted and did not enjoy the exercise at all.

So, if you focus on the motion of the movement using proper alignment of the spine, trust that everything else with fall into place. Muscles that need to be activated will automatically become activated without you focusing on one specific muscle group.

We will be talking more about this in upcoming blog posts so get excited:-)

Give this concept a try at your next workout and leave a comment letting me know how it went for you. Also, if you want some coaching about how to do this better, sign up for our 21 Day challenge starting Monday October 31st!

All details here: http://www.SF21DayFatLoss.com

 

3 Easy Ways to Jump Start Your Workout Plan

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Workout slumps are the worst! And we all have them..

 

I say ‘we’ because if you know anything about me and how I got started in the fitness industry, you’ll know that there was a period in my life where I was completely un-fit. I was eating poorly, working at a job I hated, low on energy and confidence. Getting to the gym seemed nearly impossible to me at that time.

 

But when I finally picked myself up, got some professional help and started moving again, I got my motivation back.

 

Long story short, taking these 3 initial steps helped me snap out of my workout slump and now I am giving them to you:

 

1. Think about how good you will feel once you have the body you want and deserve. (Notice how I’m not saying to force yourself to go to the gym and do a half hearted workout)..

 

I’m saying to think about how you want your body to be. Over and over again. Imagine yourself being active and successful in marking off the goals on your fitness wish list.

 

You can program your mind to think and behave anyway you want (good or bad). The cool thing is that when you think about something enough (fitting into those work clothes in your closet Or going on that spur of the moment Vegas vacation without worrying if you’ll look good), your brain automatically programs you for success!

 

I would even take it a step further though and tell you to write down your goals. Your goals are what you want to accomplish (eg. Buttoning your favorite jeans again comfortably). And writing down WHY it is important to you to lose weight and get in shape.  Once you have your big WHY (not just a superficial Why) it should help you kick things in gear.

 

Now you are ready!

 

2. Surround yourself with like-minded, supportive, and positive friends. This stuff is hard to do on your own.  And Sometimes if feels like we are the only person experiencing certain problems and frustrations with our bodies. But chances are most people you know feel the same way you do.

Plus there are only so many hours in the day, so why not make fitness fun and social? Get yourself in with a workout group you enjoy! We like our boot campers to laugh it up and get to know one another.

When you are surrounded by like- minded folks, it helps you stay motivated and helps to know that you are all holding each other accountable.

So find an activity you love or come check out a free week of classes with us!

 

3. Last, one thing I’ve noticed is that we are all a little competitive sometimes…  Even my clients who don’t think they have a competitive edge end up being fierce when we have prizes on the line. Now, with this said, I’ve found that once you are ready to go, one of the best things you can do is join a fitness challenge and dedicate yourself to doing the best you can to win.  And luckily if you are someone who is excited to jump start your program now I have a huge Surprise for you… Just click Here!

But before you do, make sure to leave a comment or share this with your workout friends!

What is Your Ideal Weight?

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Have you ever felt like you are losing weight but you are not sure where to stop or what your ‘weight loss limit should be?’

Or you are unsure about whether you ‘should be’ at a certain weight for your height and body type?

I recently got this question from one of our most successful boot campers. Since last March, she has lost 17 inches and 25 lbs of fat, and now, she is wondering, what should my ideal weight be? How much weight do I need to lose to get there?

I have thought about this for a while now. Society makes us feel like we need to follow some magical weight loss chart or formula to determine where we “should” be.  (You have probably seen one of those general charts in the past that show what someone who is a certain height and age should weigh…)

But My answer to this is simple.

Your ideal weight should be where you feel most comfortable with yourself and most healthy and happy in your body.

It sounds vague right? But think about this for a second.

Visualize what your ideal body looks like on you and how you feel looking this way.

I will help you out:

If you are fitting into your clothes you love wearing, feeling amazing in your own skin, happy with your energy levels, feel fit and healthy, feel good naked:-) (oh you know what I mean!), have developed lean muscle mass and tone, are eating a healthy diet filled with vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats, can close any belt loop you own in a place that makes you happy, are not jiggling around anywhere that makes you uncomfortable, and have a healthy body fat percentage (talk to your doctor about this, it is different for everyone’s body type and athleticism)…

Then congratulations, you have reached a weight that is ideal for you  and your body!

Now can you see it?

Everyone is unique and different.  We all have a different body structures, heights, weights, ages, levels of athleticism, time frame for getting our workouts in. But we all have some sort of idea of how we would like to look and feel and generally speaking, this is probably your ideal weight.

I hope I’ve answered your question on the subject and would love to hear your feedback. So post a comment below today..

 

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