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The Fit Life is Calling…

posted by: Gary

I know why you’ve been reluctant to jump on the fitness bandwagon, and I’m not blaming you for it.

Because fitness is hard.

Want to know just how hard? Here’s a glimpse into the Fit Life:

Fit Life Truth #1: Exercise Counts

Lace up your shoes and hit the gym instead of getting extra sleep, watching TV or doing whatever else it is that you’d rather be doing. Do this 3-5 times each for 30-60 minutes.

Fit Life Truth #2: Nutrition Counts

Choose your meals based on nutritional makeup rather than following your taste buds. Limit your intake of simple carbohydrates and get lots of protein and fiber in each meal.

Fit Life Truth #3: No Room For Junk

Turn down your favorite junk foods –even when you really, really want it. Cut simple sugars and harmful, processed fats out of your diet completely.

Fit Life Truth #4: Push Harder

Push your body to be stronger, faster and better during each workout. Don’t simply go through the motions in your routine – consistently challenge your muscles to do more each day.

Fit Life Truth #5: Calories Count

Limit your total calories to within an appropriate range for your size and goals. Remember, even healthy calories can add up to weight gain when you’re not careful.

That’s just the basics on what it takes to enjoy a fit and healthy body. Pretty hard, right? Now let’s take a look at with the NOT-Fit life looks like…

NOT-Fit Life Truth #1: Be Sedentary

Spend your spare time being as sedentary as possible. The less that you use your muscles, the more aches, pains and mobility limitations you’ll experience. Oh, and if you’re consuming more calories than your natural metabolism burns then you’ll steadily gain weight.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #2: Eat For Taste

Eat whatever sounds and tastes good. The human palate is naturally drawn to items that are high in sugar, salt and fat. Your eat-whatever-diet will be filled with these fattening foods and will be lacking in protein and fiber. You’ll find your weight increases, and your energy levels plummet, accordingly.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #3: Just Say Yes

To your favorite junk food, that is. As I mentioned above, your favorite foods are likely high in sugar, salt and fat. Or, more likely, your faves are high in all three! Your indulgent eating is going to raise the number on your scale higher, and higher, and higher.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #4: Get Comfortable

Your goal is to be comfy. This means use as little muscular strength as you can on a daily basis. When you don’t use your muscles they begin to atrophy (shrink!), leaving you with less lean tissue. Since lean tissue raises your metabolism, a drop in lean tissue means you’ll be burning fewer calories at rest than ever before.

NOT-Fit Life Truth #5: More Is Better

There’s no limit on how much you eat – in fact more is better. As a result you often feel sluggish from your overloaded digestive system. And your motivation to exercise and turn your NOT-Fit Life into a Fit Life gets dimmer and dimmer.

So which life is harder? The Fit Life? Or the NOT-Fit Life?

The truth is that both of these lifestyles are hard. Just depends on which hard you’d rather deal with.

The Fit Life’s hard has to do with discipline, motivation and determination. It’s about doing the right thing rather than the easy thing. Most of all, the Fit-Life is about constantly striving forward.

The NOT-Fit Life’s hard has to do with excess fat, aches, pains and physical limitations. It’s about avoiding doing the hard thing now and ending up with a body that’s just plain hard to live in. Most of all, the NOT-Fit Life is about NOT taking action.

Which hard do you choose?

If you’d like the Fit Life then take action now by calling or emailing me today to get started on a fitness program that’s going to be hard.

The best kind of hard.

Never Give Up on Your Fitness Goals

posted by: Gary

You want to get into better shape, to drop the fat and to increase your tone and strength.

Join the club…most people are actively working toward an elusive fitness goal.

So what separates those who end up achieving their goals from the rest of the masses who are trapped in a fruitless struggle?

Winston Churchill hit the nail on the head when he said, “Never, never, never, never give up.”

The bottom line is that it is possible to achieve any fitness goal when you lock on to it and strive towards it every day. Unfortunately, distractions are everywhere, making it easy to fall off track.

This brings us to the classic Henry Ford quote, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

In order to stay the course, it is vital that you keep your eyes on the goal.

Here’s how to get to your goal in 5 Steps:

Step One: Only One At A Time

When you’re feeling motivated and decide to set a goal, it’s tempting to become over-ambitious by setting multiple goals. While it’s great that you want to improve many things about yourself, the pressure of trying to achieve more than one goal at once will cause you to drop all the goals and go back to status quo.

Focus in on the one goal that you really want to achieve first, and focus all of your efforts onto this goal with laser-like force. There will be plenty of time in the future to see to your other goals, but for now see your number one goal all the way through to completion.

Step Two: Start Slow

Another pitfall that often results in dropped goals is the act of starting out too fast and too strong. If your goal in fitness is to drop 6 pant sizes and to exercise 5 times a week, do not (I repeat, DO NOT) go out and hit the gym hard for the next 5 days in a row. You’ll be so sore that I guarantee you’ll stop all progress the following week and your goal will be put back on a shelf.

Take a deep breath and remember that this isn’t a race. This is your life, and it’s you against yourself. Start out slow and steady and gradually build as you progress toward your goal. Don’t allow self-induced fatigue to get in your way.

Step Three: Know Your Reasons Why

Why is this goal so important to you? There are many reasons, and you should know every single one of them. Write down each and every possible reason you can come up with as to why your goal needs to be met.

Intimately get to know the ‘reasons why’ this goal is so important to you. You should have them memorized and should recite them every single day. Remember what Ford said—when you take your eyes off your goal, you’ll see loads and loads of obstacles. Keep your eyes locked onto that goal by filling your mind with all of the ‘reasons why’ you’re going to see this thing through.

Step Four: Think About It

Along with thinking about your reasons for accomplishing your goal, it’s also helpful to focus your mind on how you’ll feel once you’ve done it. Dedicate some time each day to picture your new post-goal life.

How awesome are you going to feel when you’ve accomplished this goal that’s been on your mind for so long? Pretty amazing. Fill your mind with that feeling of accomplishment well before you’ve finished the work. The more you feel connected to the end of the race, the more likely it is that you’ll make it through.

Step Five: Put It All On The Line

It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. Invest in something that will help propel you toward your goal. When you shell out some of your hard-earned money to aid in your progress, then you are going to take this process that much more seriously.

It’s time to commit yourself seriously to seeing this goal to completion. If your goal is to lose weight and to get into amazing shape then invest in one of my proven fitness programs.

My clients see results. My clients achieve their goals.

It’s time that you become one of my clients.

Call or email today and together we will get you to your goal.

Restart Your Results in 5 Steps

posted by: Gary

It happens to all of us at some point.

Your workouts are dialed in, and your body rapidly becomes leaner and more attractive. Friends and family notice and you feel fantastic.

And then it stops.

You are doing everything exactly the same as before, except your body no longer responds.

You, my friend, have hit a plateau. It’s a frustrating place to be parked, so read the following 5 steps to get your body back into results mode.

Step #1: Reduce Sugar. A very effective way to restart your results is to reel in your sugar intake. Inspect all of your food for added sugars and eliminate items that contain high calorie sweeteners. This means no sugar, corn syrup, honey or maple syrup.

If you’ve already eliminated processed sugars from your diet, and have still hit a plateau, then it’s time to dig a little deeper by eliminating some of the natural sugars from your diet. Limit your intake of sweet fruits and eliminate dried fruits.

Step #2: Get More Sleep. We are supposed to get an average of eight hours of sleep each night. If you’re not getting adequate amounts of rest, you’re more likely to be hungry, overeat, and gain weight.

When you’re tired, you don’t feel like cooking a healthy meal, and you’re more likely to opt for fast (fattening) food. Then your lack of energy causes you to skip your workouts. And to make matters worse, sleep deprivation causes your metabolism to slow down, slowing or reversing your results. To beat your plateau, make sleep a priority.

Step #3: Drink Only Water. To restart your results, you’ll need to make some changes. Sorry, but some of the changes aren’t going to be fun. If you’re one of the millions hooked on soda, alcohol, or other sweetened beverages, then your plateau will stay locked in place until you replace these drinks with water.

Keep in mind that your brain often confuses thirst with hunger. So at the first sign of hunger, don’t grab a snack or calorie-filled drinks. Instead, grab a glass of water.

Step #4: Eat Healthy Breakfast. But not just any breakfast. Your plateau-breaking breakfast should be low in carbs and high in protein. Try eggs, lean breakfast meats, a protein shake, or a mini-muffin made with almond flour.

Fitting breakfast into your busy morning may take some work, but research shows that the habit of eating a healthy breakfast is key to losing weight and keeping pounds off. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier to give yourself time to eat breakfast

Step #5: Increase Exercise Intensity. It’s time to start taking your workouts more seriously. No more going through the motions, it’s all-out for you. If you want to get back on track with your body transformation, and to keep the fat melting away, then increase the amount and intensity of your exercise routine.

For most people, this is the most difficult lifestyle change of all, but the benefits are enormous. Try to get 30 to 60 minutes of intense exercise on most days of the week. When exercise is a normal part of your everyday routine, you’re more likely to stick with it, and your body will become slimmer and more toned.

The quickest and most permanent way to beat that plateau is through a combination of healthy eating and consistent, challenging workouts.

I’m here to help you meet your fitness and weight loss goals.

You deserve that fit and attractive body—I can help you get it.

Call or email today and together we will overcome your fitness plateau.

Ready to feel your best?